Silent Heart
by BetterThanTisdale
Summary: Troy's parents decide to take in a foster child that becomes Troy's mom's case. No one realizes when the teenager moves in, will make an impact on everyone they know... And will do so without saying one word... Rating for later chapters. Chapter6 up Aug19
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Troy Bolton pulled up to his best friend Gabriella Montez's house and honked the horn.

A few minutes later, Gabriella was laughing at Troy when she got into the car, still in the process of brushing her dark hair.

"So now that we are not dating anymore, you just honk me out of the house?" she said between fits of laughter.

"Well, I learned when we were going out that when I am standing at the door waiting for you, you take all the time in the world. But when I am sitting here laying on the horn, you get out here a lot faster because you don't want to hear the horn for 10 minutes." Troy explained with a grin as he pulled out of the driveway and headed to school.

"You're early today. What gives?" she asked him. He was a good 10 minutes early from the usual pick up time.

Troy turned onto Madison Avenue and stopped at a red light before telling her. "I have to find the team before first period to tell them that there is no practice today. During free period or after school."

"Whoa. Coach Bolton not having a team practice? Is he sick?" Gabriella asked. She remembered how upset the coach was the previous year when she was with Troy during a practice.

Troy chuckled. "Not exactly… I don't think… no. He and my mom are going to social services today."

"Social services? Like adopting kids? Are your parents thinking of adopting??"

"No. Not exactly." Troy sighed. "How can I explain this… You know my mom is a social worker, right?" he looked over at her.

"Of course." She replied.

"Well… this case she just got… all the other social workers have given up on it. So my mom took it. This kid apparently doesn't talk. Ever. And since mom is good at getting kids like that come out of their shell, we're… we're taking him in." Troy grumbled.

"You don't sound happy about it." She observed.

"Well, I'm not exactly jumping for joy about having some mute living in my house." Troy explained as he pulled into the school parking lot and began hunting for a space in the Senior lot.

"I'm sure everything will be fine Troy. Your mom is great with kids." Gabriella reassured him.

Both teenagers got out of the car and began walking into campus to find their friends.

"Its just going to be weird having a mute stay at my house." He told Gabriella as they approached their lockers.

"Mute? Your parents still taking in that foster kid Captain?" Troy's best friend Chad Danforth asked as he walked up to the couple with his arm around his girlfriend, Taylor McKessie, Gabriella's best friend.

"Horrible, I know." Troy replied.

"Oh will you stop it Troy. Your parents are going something wonderful for this kid. Who knows what he has been through that made him unable to speak." Taylor shot at Troy. "Stop being a jerk and try to make the best out of the situation."

Troy was slowly backing away from Taylor as she ranted. When she finished, he looked back at Chad. "Your girlfriend scares me, Chad. Really." He told him. The other three just laughed in response.

"Yeah yeah. Laugh it up guys. Any idea where the rest of the team is? There is no practice today."

"If I had to guess, Jason is probably with Kelsi in the auditorium and the rest are probably in the home-ec room with Zeke for breakfast."

"Sharpay with him?" Gabriella asked.

"I wouldn't doubt it. She is always in there when he is baking. I think she is the official taster for everything nowadays." Taylor told her.

"We need to get going. The bell is gonna ring and the guys need to know about the cancelled practice." Troy explained.

"Yeah. We'll see you two in class later." Chad kissed Taylor goodbye and Troy gave Gabriella a kiss on the cheek.

The group separated and went off in their individual directions just as the first bell rang.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Jack and Mary Bolton waited in Mary's co-worker's office. Jack was twitching his leg from nerves.

"Stop worrying Jack. It will be fine." Mary tried to assure her husband.

"I just… I didn't know that she was… a girl!" Jack told her.

"How is that a problem?"

"I believe the problem is the 17 year old teenager that already lives with us." Jack pointed out.

"Oh I doubt Troy would even think of it." Mary dismissed the idea.

"He is a 17 year old, fully grown guy, hormones included Mary."

Before she could respond, a woman entered the office. She waited at the doorway and tried to coax someone inside.

After a few minutes, a small teenage girl with dirty blonde hair slowly walked into the office and stood quietly in the corner. Her hands were folded in front of her and her head was down, as if she were afraid to look away from the floor.

"Monica? Sweetie, this is Mr. and Mrs. Bolton. You will be staying with them for a little while." The woman, Jackie, told the girl.

The girl looked up at the couple slowly, but didn't show any of the emotion that she was feeling.

After more talking among the adults, the Boltons walked with Monica to the car. The ride to the house was silent except for Mary explaining things to Monica. She noticed that the girl took in a deep breath when she mentioned that Troy was just a couple months older than her and was about the same size as her husband, making both males of the house almost a foot taller than the girl's 5'0 frame.

"Don't worry about anything Sweetie. You are safe with us." She tried to reassure her.

Jack pulled the car into the driveway and got out and got Monica's things while Mary led Monica into the house.

"Do you want the tour of the house or go see your room first?" Mary suggested. She was hoping that if she gave the girl options, she would speak her mind. It didn't work like she had hoped. The girl only shrugged her thin shoulders in response. She decided to show Monica around the house and end in her bedroom on the top floor.

Soon after, Monica was sitting on a full size bed with a floral print in a room whose balcony overlooked the luscious backyard, equipped with a mini basketball court.

Suddenly, in a flash, Monica began digging frantically through her things, throwing clothes around the room. She finally came to the bottom of her small suitcase.

She found what she was looking for and carefully placed it on the nightstand beside her bed. She starred long into the faces looking back at her.

They were the elderly faces of a man and a woman, both well into their 60's when the picture was taken. On the woman's lap, a bright eyed girl sat and smiled happily. Her, over 10 years ago, when she was 3 years old.

After a few moments and a few tears escaping her eyes, she went back to her suitcase and pulled out a notebook full of blank pages with a pen stuffed into the silver coils.

Without thinking or hesitation, she pulled the pen out of the coils, turned to a page near the back and began to write.

**In a new place again. This time it is my caseworker and her family. She seems nice enough. Her husband seems ok… so far. They have a son who is my age. What am I going to do about this? My therapist says that I should express what I am feeling. I'm scared. No, not scared. Absolutely terrified.**

By the time she finished writing, it was the middle of the afternoon and she faintly heard someone come in through the front door.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on her open door's frame. Mary walked in, followed by a boy with dark blonde hair.

"Monica, this is our son Troy." She turned and looked at her son. "Honey, this is Monica. She is the girl who is going to be staying with us for a while."

"Hey." Troy smiled and waved.

The young girl smiled for a split second and kept her eyes directed to the wall behind the two.

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour. You can come down and help me if you'd like Monica. I'm making scalloped potatoes and biscuits."

Monica shook her head slightly and went back to her notebook. She turned to a page near the front and wrote something. She gave the notebook to Mary so she could read it.

**No thank you. I will just come down when it is ready.**

Troy looked over his mom's shoulder at what Monica wrote. His mom nodded and handed the notebook back to her. "That's fine Honey. Come down whenever you wish." She turned to her son. "Homework?"

"I'll get it done Mom. Nice meeting you Monica." He said and left the room.

After he left, Mary walked over and sat on the bed with Monica.

"You alright Honey? Have everything you need?"

Monica nodded in assurance and Mary left.

Troy sat in his room and thought about the girl that was living down the hall from him. He was surprised that it was a girl, they had all thought that is was going to be a young boy staying with them. He couldn't stop thinking about the look in her eyes. They seemed empty of emotion. Then he remembered what Taylor had said that morning at the lockers. _'Maybe they were unable to show emotion.'_ He thought.

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews so far. This used to be a Jesse McCartney story when I was still into him. But when that phase ended, I became engrossed in HSM. LOL.  
Just by curiousity, what do you think is wrong with Monica? What caused her to 'go mute', as Troy says. You will learn why later in the story, but I'm just curious as to what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Mary called Troy and Monica downstairs when dinner was ready.

Both teenagers came out of their rooms and walked down the staircase, one clutching a notebook and the other with a cell phone attached to the ear.

When they reached the kitchen, the cell phone was closed after Troy told Chad that he would talk to him later that night.

The meal was fairly typical for the Boltons. For Monica however, it was very nerve wrecking. She felt that if she did one thing wrong, spilling her drink or dropping food on the floor, she would be sent to her room without dinner.

But nothing of the sort happened. Mary kept talking to her about various things, anything to try and get the girl to speak, but the pen and paper did the speaking for her.

"Troy, I want the team to have a practice tomorrow to make up the ones that were missed today. Tell them all to be here by 10am." Jack mentioned. Troy nodded but Mary objected.

"Jack, do you really need to schedule a Saturday practice?" she questioned.

Troy and Jack looked at one another and then at her. "Yes!" came out of both of their mouths.

Mary sighed. "Fine. We will order pizza because I am not making four dozen sandwiches for the team again."

Just then, a notebook was slid across the table to Mary.

**May I be excused?**

Mary looked at the teenager with a defeated look in her eyes. "Of course Darling. Why don't you go upstairs and take a long hot bath to relax. You have had a long day."

Monica nodded and began to get up from her seat when Troy said something.

"Monica, why don't you just talk? I mean, it has to get annoying for you to have to write down everything. Wouldn't it just be easier to talk?"

In response, Monica shot up from the table and raced upstairs, notebook clutched against her chest.

"Troy Michael Bolton! Don't ask her that again! If you knew why she wasn't talking, you would think twice before asking her that!" Mary exploded at her son.

"Well, I'm just trying to get her to talk. Why doesn't she??"

"You don't need to worry about that." Jack told him.

"Sorry." Troy said softly.

"Don't tell us. Tell Monica." Mary told him.

"Yes Ma'am." He replied and got up from the table. He walked up the stairs and paused outside Monica's closed door. He knocked softly.

"Monica, its Troy."

A piece of paper was slid under the door.

**GO AWAY!!**

Troy sighed. "Monica, please. I'm sorry for what I said. I wasn't thinking. I was just being stupid. Please let me in. I want to apologize."

Another paper appeared.

**You're forgiven. Now go away.**

Another sigh escaped Troy's lungs. "I don't want to apologize to the door."

He finally heard the knob turn and the door opened slowly, revealing the teenage girl's red face. She had obviously been crying. The door opened wider to allow Troy to walk into the room.

Monica quickly went around to the other side of the bed, as if trying to keep some distance between herself and the teenage boy.

"I'm really sorry for what I said. It was rude, disrespectful, childish and extremely stupid."

Monica nodded softly.

"You forgive me?" he asked.

Again, she nodded softly.

"Thanks. The team is going to be here tomorrow. You can come out and meet them and hang out with us during break times if you want." He suggested.

Monica shook her head quickly. She reached for her notebook and pen, wrote something down and handed it to him.

**No thanks. I think I'm just going to unpack a bit more tomorrow.**

"Alright then. Well, you're welcome down there anytime. Night." He said and walked out of the room.

Monica rushed over to the door, shut it and placed the desk chair under the knob and backed away slowly.

She sat on her bed and clutched an old teddy bear whose left eye was only hanging by a few threads. She then grabbed her notebook and began to write.

**Troy asked me why I don't talk. He doesn't know but his parents do and they promised that they wont tell him unless I say they can.**

**Troy is having his basketball team over tomorrow for practice. His dad is the coach and since he went to get me today, the team didn't have their usual practice. First day here and I'm already interfering. Only a matter of time till they decide that they don't want me here anymore. And then I will be back in the shelter. Reliving the nightmares over and over again. Sweet Dreams Little Princess.**

* * *

Again, thanks for the reviews guys. I seem to be on a roll right now with chapters, but I think this is it for a couple weeks. I have finals next week for college and if I dont want my grades to kill me, I need to study. LOL. The theories about why Monica is mute are really good. I wont say if any of them are right or not because I dont want to give anything away, but it will be a while till you find out, hopefully you will still be reading this thing. Keep the theories coming! I love reading what you guys think happened to her! Next chapter will probably not be till the middle of May after my finals, depending on how much studying I accomplish. Keep reading!!  
Just a side note: this chapter was originally going to end in a completely different way, but I decided that I didnt want to give anything away just yet. Maybe in a few chapters I will use what I originally wrote for the ending of this one. We'll see! LOL 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Troy was still awake and talking to Chad and Zeke on instant messenger.

BasKetBallGuy: really guys. this girl is… emotional. very.

WhatTeamWildcats: so what is the problem again?

Perfect Crème Brulee: why

BasKetBallGuy: i don't know. mom and dad wont tell me. say that i don't need to know.

Perfect Crème Brulee: how do you know what she wants

BasKetBallGuy: she carries a notebook everywhere with her. she writes down everything.

WhatTeamWildcats: that has to be annoying

Perfect Crème Brulee: really

BasKetBallGuy: i told her that and she ran out of the room and mom and dad yelled at me.

There was a knock on Troy's door.

"Come in." he answered, still typing to his friends.

"Its getting late Troy." Jack told his son.

"Just talking to the guys Dad."

Jack motioned Troy to back away from the desk. When the area was cleared, he stepped to the keyboard and began tying.

BasKetBallGuy: Get to bed. You are going to be here by 10am for a hard practice.

Perfect Crème Brulee: lol yes coach

WhatTeamWildcats: yeah coach

Before he turned away from the screen, he saw that they were talking about Monica. He turned and looked at his son.

"Don't be telling them personal stuff about Monica."

Troy nodded. "Yes Sir."

"Alright. Night son."

"Night Dad."

Jack left the room and closed the door as Troy scooted the chair back to the desk.

BasKetBallGuy: night guys. see you tomorrow.

Perfect Crème Brulee: night

WhatTeamWildcats: see you guys

Troy lied in bed that night wondering about Monica. He really was sorry for what he said and he felt like and idiot for having said it.

He decided that he was not going to try and force her to talk. At least, not as obviously anyway.

Hours later, Troy was woken up from a dead sleep to hear a faint cry. At first, he thought that it was a dream, but it went on long after he knew he was awake.

He walked out of his room and headed down the hall. When he passed Monica's room, he knew the crying was coming from her.

He went back into his own room and over to his balcony. Walking out onto the ledge, he began to maneuver himself onto her balcony, careful not to make any noise that would frighten her.

Through the moonlight that shined into her room, Troy could see the outline of Monica's body laying on her side with her back to him. The gentle shaking of her body told Troy that she was indeed crying, and probably wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

He stood outside the balcony doors and waited till she relaxed and fell back asleep till he went back into his room.

Troy Bolton didn't know it at the time, but that was going to be a nightly routine that he would secretly continue until the soft cries cease from her room.

* * *

Ok, first off, I am going to respond to a review that I believe had no reason to be submitted to my story.  
From: joe ()  
-------------------

shut up ashley tisdale is an amazing actress and has beautiful voice u r just  
jealous of her and by the way vanessa sucks at acting and if vanessa didnt try  
out for hsm ashley wiuld have got gabriella

Alright, first, dont tell me to shut up. I am allowed my own opinion as you are allowed yours. You may believe that Tisdale is a wonderful actress and singer, but I believe different. Only because I am an actress and singer myself and I have experience of knowing good talent when I see it and I can see that she is very rigid in her performances and her voice is strained when she sings. I am not jealous of her because there is no reason for me to be jealous of her. I believe that she lacks talent to be a true performer, so why would I be jealous of that? Second, if Vanessa sucks at acting, as you claim, then why would she have beaten Tisdale for the part? Wouldnt Tisdale have gotten the part, even if Vanessa auditioned, if she was better? Third, if you are going to attack someone, at least have the balls to leave a signed review so you dont look like a coward. And last, grammar, punctuation and spell check are your friends. Might want to try and use them to show that you might have some form of intelligence.

Alright. Now that is over with, onto what I wanted to say in the first place.  
First, I really dont like this chapter (so feel free to say how crappy it is, I promise I wont jump down your throat like I just did to the person mentioned above), but I wanted something to happen before the team practice the next day. This chapter is basically the result of my spending 4 hours doing psychological case studies, on the verge of losing my mind and sanity and in desperate need of a break, any break. lol  
Second, again, keep the theories coming! Even if you already mentioned one, if you think of another, post it! I seriously love reading those more than the story reviews! lol  
I might try and push out a new chapter later today, but dont expect one. My brain is so fried from all the studying and lack of rest, that I'm sure I could just tip my head to the side and my whole brain would flow out of my ear and into a glass. lol Nice mental image huh?

Keep the theories coming!!! Seriously, has an author ever asked for anything other than story reviews??? lol


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Monica was woken by a loud bell sounding from the hallway. She shot up from her bed in an instant. Rubbing the sleep and dried tears from the night before out of her eyes and stumbled out of her bed.

She removed the chair from under the knob, unlocked and opened the door.

In the hallway, Jack Bolton stood in his son's doorway, waking him up. Jack looked down the hall and saw Monica standing just outside her bedroom door in her PJs and blonde hair tied into pigtail braids.

"I'm so sorry Monica. I was just waking Troy up for practice. I didn't mean to wake you Sweetie." He told her.

Monica nodded softly and went back into her room. She looked at the glowing numbers on her digital clock on the nightstand. 8:37am. She climbed back into bed and fell back to sleep instantly.

Mary had finished making breakfast for her husband and son and began to go up the stairs with a tray for Monica. Jack passed her as Troy walked downstairs and to the counter. He began piling food onto his plate and over to the table and sat down.

"I don't think she will eat all that Honey." He commented as he looked at the mountains of food on the tray.

"Well, we'll just see. She might have a bigger appetite than we think. Remember everything she has been through Jack."

"I know." Jack glanced at his son sitting on the table, oblivious to his parents' discussion. "That's why she might not even eat a third of all that. She isn't used to having that much food in front of her."

Mary smiled at her husband and gave him a peck on the cheek and continued up the stairs to Monica's room.

She walked into the room and was beginning to leave the tray on the desk when she heard Monica stirring in the bed. She looked back and saw the girl beginning to wake up.

"I didn't know what you liked so I brought up a bit of everything I made for Jack and Troy." She told the teenager as she brought the tray to the bed. She placed the tray on her lap and watched silently as Monica began to pour syrup onto the small stack of golden pancakes.

"How was your first night? Were you alright?"

Monica knew she couldn't tell that she had spent most of her first night crying, she didn't want anyone to know. So she just nodded and kept eating, now starting on the small pile of scrambled eggs.

"I'm sure you remember Jack planning a team practice today." Mary began. She knew she was going to have to deal with it when it happened, so decided to get it settled now rather when everyone was there.

Monica nodded softly and avoided looking at her.

"Sweetie. Don't worry about anything. You are in good hands here, I promise." Monica smiled softly and she continued. "I'm having a little movie day while Jack and Troy are busy with practice. Think you might like to join me?"

Monica turned to her notebook on the nightstand and began to write.

**No thank you. I am just going to unpack today.**

Mary looked around the room. Despite her one suitcase already emptied and in the closet, she nodded in understanding.

"Ok. But you are allowed to come downstairs and relax down there. You don't need to keep yourself up here all alone."

**I know. I am still just trying to adjust. It takes me a while sometimes.**

"I know Sweetie. Well, when you finish this, just bring it down to the kitchen and I will take care of it. And if you need anything, just help yourself or find me, Jack or Troy."

Before she left, she gave the girl's hand a small squeeze and winked.

As Monica was finishing her breakfast, she heard many voices entering the house downstairs.

The basketball team.

She began to think quickly. She rushed over to the door and replaced the chair back under the knob and locked the door.

Then she remembered the breakfast tray. She decided to wait until the whole team would be outside and she would sneak down and put it into the kitchen and hurry back upstairs to her room before anyone would notice she was even downstairs.

She opened the door to her balcony slightly so she could listen for the team to start practice, then everyone would be so busy they wouldn't notice someone rushing to and from the kitchen.

She began to write a note to Mrs. Bolton while she waited.

**Mrs. Bolton,**

**Thank you for the wonderful breakfast. I cant remember the last time when I had so much food available to eat and feeling free to have as much as I wished.**

**Thank you again for everything you have done for me so far. It is more than I could ever ask for.**

**Monica**

When she was finished, she heard the team outside. She walked to the balcony and looked out the window and saw Troy, his dad and the rest of the team on the small basketball court.

She removed the chair and unlocked the door and walked out of the bedroom with the tray and note in hand.

She walked down the staircase, listening for the sounds of the basketball team working out in the backyard.

Having made it to the kitchen and placed the tray on the counter and the note on the table, she successfully left and went back to her room before anyone even had a thought that someone might have been downstairs.

She walked to the balcony doors and looked down from where she stood and saw the team doing passing drills.

Seeing the number of guys downstairs, she vowed that she wouldn't go down there with all the guys being there if there was a chance of her getting seen.

Troy Bolton kept pace his teammates were throwing back at him. He glanced up at Monica's balcony when his father called for a five minute break and saw her looking down at them timidly.

When she saw him looking at her, she rushed back into her room and closed the balcony doors behind her.

Chad caught his glance and walked over to him.

"Daydreamin again Captain?"

Troy shook his head. "No. Monica was out on her balcony."

Chad looked up at the empty ledge. "Not there no more."

"Yeah I know that Chad. You and Taylor going out tonight?"

"No idea. She says she might need to babysit her little bro cuz her parents are probably going out. If she bails, you wanna come out with the guys and me. Grab some food or something." Chad asked his best friend.

"If she is babysitting, maybe you can assist her with that." Troy laughed.

"Yeah right. With her father being the size of Shaq, no way am I gonna try that. So you gonna come?"

Troy thought about it. He did want to go out, but he also wanted to stay in and see that Monica was alright.

"I don't know. Lemme see what happens tonight."

The teammates kept talking until Coach Bolton called them back out to practice more drills.

* * *

Took some time but it is here! Not exactly how I wanted it but close enough.  
Finals are over and now I can relax... when I'm not working. I am planning on getting a new chapter done once a week. Every other week at most. But the life of a working college student is very unpredictable. lol

On other news: Going to Pirates at midnight tomorrow!!! Captain Jack Sparrow is BACK! lol Hope everyone that goes to see it loves it. Gotta love Johnny!!

Reviews and new theories are always welcome!!!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Monica was writing in her notebook when a knock came to her door.

She closed the notebook and cautiously walked over to the locked door.

"Sweetie, its me." She heard Mary's voice through the door.

Monica sighed in relief and unlocked the door. She opened it to see Mary standing in the hallway, holding the note Monica had written earlier that morning.

She thought that Mary was mad about her leaving the tray on the counter or the note, but when Mary opened her arms, she slowly walked over and was soon being gently hugged.

At first the feeling was odd. It had been so long since she had been hugged by someone who genuinely cared about her, she had almost forgotten what it felt like.

As if she was in extreme slow motion, Monica's arms made their way around Mary's waist and they were embraced in a long hug for what felt like hours.

After some time passed, Monica pulled away from Mary.

"You're welcome a million times over." Mary told her.

Monica smiled and began to walk back into her room when Mary spoke again.

"We will be ordering pizza in a couple hours. Do you prefer any certain toppings?" she was still trying to get Monica to say anything, which was the main reason she was giving her so many options for things. She had hope that given the right set of options, Monica would use her voice and make a choice.

But, not surprising to her, the girl only shook her head.

"Alright. I will call you down when it is here." She told her and left.

Monica went back into her room and began writing. As she did, silent tears began to escape her eyes.

**A hug. Damn. Last time I had really been given one of those… Jeff and Michelle. Wonder if they have been writing for me. Wonder if they know what has happened since them. I really miss them.**

Finally, after doing nothing but write for nearly 24 hours, Monica closed the notebook and walked over to the small bookshelf that was next to the door.

Before she had come to stay with the Boltons, Mary requested a list of her favorite books. They all stood on the shelf in neat rows, waiting to be read. Different series all grouped together.

Seeing a title from her past, she pulled out one particular book. Samantha Saves the Day from the American Girl series. She had not read it since elementary school, but remembered it well.

After reading the first page, she became completely engrossed in the story, savoring every word written about Samantha Parkington.

_The young girl sat silently on her grandfather's lap. Looking around, many people were crying and dressed in dark colors. She never saw something like this._

_She looked over at her grandmother, who was next to her grandfather._

_"Mee-ma… Mee-ma!" she nearly shouted._

_The man standing in front of the group stopped talking for a moment and smiled sadly at her. He knew she didn't understand what was happening._

_"Shh. It'll be okay Sweetheart. You are safe with us Princess." Her grandmother said quietly and motioned her to stay quiet. She looked back up at the man and smiled softly._

_Monica looked up there as well. She saw two long boxes, each with a picture of her mother and father on them and lots of flowers._

_She didn't understand what was going on. But she knew something was wrong._

_Later that night after all the guests had left, she laid in bed listening to her grandmother reading to her her favorite book, I am a Puppy._

_"Mee-ma. Where is Mommy and Daddy?" she watched as the elderly woman wiped at her eyes, as she had done many times over the last few days._

_"They are both beautiful angels now Sweetheart. Up in Heaven now where they can always watch over you and protect you." She explained as she did the final tuck-in. She then bent down close to her face and each put a kiss on the other's forehead._

_Her grandmother then stepped to the side as her husband took her place and repeated the same event with his granddaughter._

_"Night-night." Monica said to them happily. She always loved staying with her grandparents._

_"Night-night Little One." The elder two repeated. They walked over to the door and paused for a moment, watching her eyes begin to close slowly._

_"Sweet Dreams Little Princess." She heard her grandfather's voice._

_"Sweet Dreams Pop Pop." She said back sleepily._

_She heard the door begin to close, stopping just before it did, leaving a thin ray of light from the hallway to sneak into the room. She hugged her teddy bear, who at the time, still had both eyes stitched safely on its face. "Night-night Teddy."_

Monica jerked out of her nap and wiped a few lose tears from her eyes that had escaped during her sleep. She began to look around and remembered that she was not at her grandparents' house, but instead at the Boltons. She was in her room there, not her room at her grandparents'.

She noticed she still held the book open in one hand where she left off in the middle of chapter three.

A knock was made on her door and she quickly marked the page in the book and went to open the door, after hearing Mary give the normal confirmation that it was her.

She stood there in the hallway, smiling down at her just like her grandmother had always done. It took everything she had to not allow her to fall apart at the thought of her grandmother. _'Not now.'_

"Hey Sweetie. The pizza guy just pulled up, so come on down and get what you want before the boys take it all." She laughed.

Monica smiled and nodded and Mary walked away, heading down the hall and descended the staircase to answer the door whose bell was rung.

Monica quickly walked across the room to look out from the balcony. She saw Troy and his teammates still in the middle of their practice.

She decided that she could hurry downstairs, get a few slices of pizza and be back upstairs before they come in.

_'Hopefully they wont notice the pizza is here yet…'_

* * *

Here it is finally! The chapter that would rather die than get written! LOL Seriously, you have no idea how much I wanted to write this and get it posted. I already had everything up to the dream written. That is where I got stuck and couldnt decide whether I wanted to do something that showed her earlier life or just go straight to the pizza. LOL So I had you guys decide for me.  
Thanks to all you who put in their numbers, I had 12 numbers to work with, which I thought was enough and I used every one. Here is the equation that I put them in to figure out the final answer. Note: If you are weird or bored enough to work this out, use a scientific or graphing calculator because otherwise you wont get the same answer I did. Some stupid math rule that some idiot thought up a long time ago just to torture us. LOL

(6 to the power of4)+(8times6)-4+(8to the power of3)-(5(8times7))+2-1 The answer is 1900something, I dont have the exact number with me, for some reason I didnt write it down with the equation in the notebook LOL. Which turned out to be even when I divided by 2. And even was paired with the dream, so thats what you got! LOL (Sorry! I didnt notice that it didnt put in the symbols!! Forgive me!! Blame the site!! LOL)

Random note: The two books mentioned in this chapter are actual books. The Samantha book is my favorite one in the Samantha American Girl series. Last time I read it was back in 5th grade (I'm now a junior in college) and I still remember it. The Puppy book is one that I loved since childhood. My grandmother always read it to me when I would stay the weekend with her and Papa. I now read it to my niece when I put her to bed. Its like a dozen pages with a max of 2sentences each on a page. So its really quick. LOL

Random note2: Did anyone notice a sentence from a previous chapter used in this one? LOL Hint: You see it again in the dream. LOL

Anyone have any idea as to who Jeff and Michelle are?? LOL You are going to be asked for theories of alot of things in this story. I dunno why, makes it seem more interesting to me for some reason. LOL

Reviews always welcome! New theories are even more welcome! LOL


End file.
